Midnight Stranger Alternate Ending
by PyroPlayer243
Summary: A one-shot altternate ending to the Midnight Stranger episode. I do not own Kung Fu Panda.


The Furious Five had just landed behind Po who was unmasked in his Midnight Warrior outfit and Tigress was coming up behind him. He knew she wasn't going to like it if she found out it was him, so, he produced three large smoke bombs from a hidden compartment on his chest and threw them at the ground, stunning the five and giving him enough coverage to get back to his helmet and mask unseen.

When the smoke had cleared, Po was already a hundred and fifty yards down the street as he flipped and jumped over building after building. Tigress had ordered the other four to bring the bandits to jail and quickly gave chace, determined to discover who the masked vigilante was. Po knew he could never outrun Tigress so he jumped onto one last roof top before rolling left to avoid her pounce.

"Why are you following me," Po asked.

"I want to know who the roughish man in that armor is," Tigress replied, staring at him dreamily.

"You know what I think is funny? The fact that I'm the same person with or without the mask on and you never look at the real me like that. In fact if you knew who it was under this mask you would probably say something like "I'm going to throw up"."

Tigress was absolutely shocked, "W-what do you mean?" Po just ignored her question and kept going.

"How about this, I have a secret. The guy under the armor, the real me, is in love with you, and not the hardcore Master Tigress who punches anyone that looks at her sideways, I'm talking about the real Tigress, the one who isn't afraid to let her hair down and enjoy life, the one BENEATH the surface. Now think about this again, do you love the guy doing these things, the guy you know everything about and knows everything about you... or do you love the bucket he wears around."

By now Tigress is sitting on the down hugging her knees as she looks up to answer with a look of sadness, "I don't know."

"I'll tell you... you love the bucket. You love the guy who you don't know, who has never done anything for you, and who you have never even officially met. Not the one who you consider a close friend, not the one who spends almost every waking moment trying to make sure you have a good day, and not the one who has tried everything to get you to love him back," Po stated solemnly as a tear rolled down his cheek.

Tigress stood up and started walking towards him, "Then show me who to love," she pleaded as she stopped in front of him staring into his... distinctly jade eyes. Then realization hit her like a cannon. She gasped, "Po," she said barely above a whisper.

He just took off his helmet as more tears fell. "I didn't matter what I did, because you never even noticed," he said right before he put the helmet back on and sprinted straight to the palace, never stopping even once. Leaving Tigress too stunned and lost in her thoughts before finally coming to terms with what happened and making her way home to find him, thinking only one thing: _All this time he's been in love with me and I never noticed, I have to make this up to him._

She searched everywhere she could think of before finally finding him sitting on top of the palace, crying and sniffling, hugging his knees into his chest as he stared into nothing. The thought of knowing she did that tore her heart to shreads as she approached the panda, but before she could reach him he said, "If your looking for the _Midnight Stranger_ he's already in your room."

"I didn't come here to find a coward with a mask, I came to find the man the took it off," she said softly as she sat down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry that I never noticed your attempts to win me over Po, I guess I got so caught up in telling myself I didn't deserve love that I forgot what it looks like," she said sadly now in the same position as him.

"Why would you tell yourself that, everyone deserves a chance at love," Po questions softly now looking at her.

"I'm a monster Po, monsters don't deserve love," she then buried her face in her arms before she felt him reach out and pull her into his lap where she snuggled into his soft chest and nuzzled into the crook of his neck.

"Your not a monster Tigress, your an angel. Sometimes though, there are angels the shine brighter and fly higher than others. Instead of accepting these them though, the people try to push them away, but the one's of the purest hearts still stay and protect those very same people no matter what they do or say to offend them," he said as he rubbed her arm to comfort her.

"Your starting to sound more like Oogway than Shifu," Tigress sad as she snuggled deeper into the embrace. A few minutes later she pulled back a bit and looked Po in the eyes and said, "I'm sorry I hadn't figured this out yet, but I do love you. Not the suit, not the mask, but the soft huggable panda behind it. Can you still forgive me and retun my feelings," she asked.

Po just smiled and ran a paw across her face and simply said, "How could I not." Caught up in the moment, Tigress slowly leaned forward and pressed her lips into his which he returned gratefully. After they broke, they returned to their previous embrace, not speaking, just enjoying the feeling of being in each other's arms, and they stayed like this for the rest of the night.

 **END**


End file.
